Monday 10 July 2017

First Day in Ripon

After a 9-hour-trip (almost to the minute), my sister and I arrived at "our" cottage in Ripon last night. Everything went super-smoothly - pre- and after-flight procedures as well as the flight itself, the first leg of our train journey from Manchester airport - and then we were stuck in Leeds for 1 1/2 hours thanks to a strike acted out by Northern Rail.
On a Sunday evening, there aren't that many alternatives; buses and trains are few and far between. Of course we knew this before, but we had not known about the strike, and there was nothing to indicate it when I had booked our train tickets and looked up times earlier this week.

Anyway; we used the enforced break to have sandwiches and something to drink, and in Harrogate, my sister-in-law kindly picked us up and took us the last few miles to Ripon.

Our cottage is as lovely as ever, and my en-suite upstairs even has a brand new shower room; everything in it is shiny and very modern. The wall at the head end of my bed sports a new, pretty wallpaper, which you will get to see as soon as I can transfer pictures from my camera to the computer.

Right now, I am using O.K.'s MacBook which luckily I was able to borrow again, like last year. The photos I am showing you in this post are from my sister's mobile.

Ripon Cathedral this afternoon:



Inside the cathedral. "Beati Pacifici" means "blessed are the peaceful".


View of the cathedral from the bank of the river Skell:


After yesterday's exhausting day of travelling, we enjoyed a realxing, quiet day which included visiting my mother-in-law, doing some food shopping at the first Aldi supermarket I have ever been to outside Germany, a quick lunch of sandwiches and afterwards tea and coffee in the early afternoon sun on the bench in front of the cottage, a round through some of our favourite shops in Ripon plus visiting the cathedral, and finally, a walk along the river.

More tomorrow!

22 comments:

  1. Wasnt rippon james herriot country?

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    1. That's Thirsk, not far from Ripon. A few years ago, I visited the James Herriot centre, the original house where he lived and had his surgery. If you are interested, you can find it on my blog via the search bar in the upper left hand corner. Just type in "Thirsk" or "Herriot", and you should get there :-)

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  2. Wonderful place to visit it seems, and such lovely photos too.

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    1. It is a wonderful place indeed, and feels like home to me.

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  3. You must visit Sheffield, then Stocksbridge. There are so many hills. It's unbelievable. They filmed 'The full monty' in Sheffield. I've been there so many times and still think it's amazing.

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    1. I've been to Sheffield several times and have family nearby, too, but this year I don't think we'll get round to visiting. Stocksbridge I don't know at all, must look it up.

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  4. I am pleased you have arrived safely in the land of milk and honey and looking forward to more Yorkshire posts.

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    1. Thank you, Neil! It may also please you to hear that today I have bought a book that you recommended on your blog some time ago, "The Old Ways".

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    2. I hope you enjoy it. I suspect you will as you are a walker.

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    3. I am sure I will, I trust your review and it made me want to read this book.

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  5. I think it's sweet that you have such a good relationship with your late husband's family. I'm sure they're so happy to see you! Lovely pictures, too. Enjoy your trip!

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    1. Thank you, Jennifer! It does indeed mean a lot to me to have two families - one in Germany, one in Yorkshire. Well, actually, it feels like I have two families in Germany now, as O.K.'s family are like my family now, too.

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  6. It's good to see you back in 'your' cottage in Ripon. Whist you were doing your catching up in the area my brother and I were travelling the 300+ miles from near Exeter to Ambleside in the Lake District. So near but yet so far. Tonight we are in Scotland (in my case 'back in Scotland'). Enjoy your holiday.

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    1. Thank you, Graham!
      I imagine you are glad to be back in Scotland, and on your way to the island. Say hello to John from me, please - I think of him every time I pass a red mail box, and there are of course several around here.

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  7. Wish I could be with you! Was the Aldi's different in Yorkshire than the one in Germany? We have Aldi's here too, the BIG thing...the cashiers SIT while checking you out just like they do in England. Here, all the stores make them stand up at the register! IF you can find one that is, they steer you towards self check out now.
    Anyway, very glad you are in Yorkshire meeting up with your English side! :-)

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    1. The Aldi is set up the same way as in Germany, with the cashiers sitting behind their tills. The products are a mix of the same, similar and totally different from our Aldi, but you can really tell it is Aldi :-)
      Self-checkout is not common yet in Germany, but I have seen it for years now in supermarkets in England, too.

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  8. And I meant to say, your trip there sounded very tiring but now, you will have a relaxing time the REST of the time you are there!

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    1. It truly was tiring; you know the kind of tired when you are almost too tired to sleep? But we both slept very well that first night (and the next; we usually do here, as it is a quiet place).

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  9. Looking forward to more wonderful pictures. Such a nice trip on many levels.

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  10. Love the view taken inside the cathedral :)

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